16
A: You know that French film that‟s on in the Odeon? B: Yes?
A: Do you want to go and see it tonight? B: What time does it start?
A: Eight thirty-five. B: Yeah, why not?
Opening sequence is opening of conversation that usually contains a
greeting. The following is the example of opening sequence.
Alan: Hi, Bob. Bob: Hi, Alan.
Alan: How are you? Bob: Fine, how about you?
Closing sequence is the end of conversation that usually contains a
farewell. The following is the example of closing sequence.
A: Sorry, I have to go now. B: It‟s okay. See you.
A: See you on Monday. Bye. B: Bye.
2. Preference Structure
In adjacency pairs there is a correlation of content and format that the first parts and the second parts have, in example: request may have acceptance or
refusal as the response to it. This correlation of the first part and second part is
17
called preference structure that consists of preferred and dispreferred respons. Preferred response is the expected response and dispreferred response is the
unexpected response Yule, 1996: 78-79. The participants can give response based on the request. The response can
be preferred response by accepting the request or dispreferred response by refusing the response. The following is a table of correlation of content and format
in adjacency pairs that is taken from Levinson‟s book Pragmatics 1984: 336.
First Parts: Request
OfferInvite Assessment Question
Blame
Second Parts: Prefferred:
Acceptance Acceptance Agreement Expected
answer
Denial
Dispreferred: Refusal
Refusal Disagreement Unexpected
answer or
non-answer
Admission
a. Preferred response
The preferred responses are usually agreements and acceptances. This response contains what the first speaker expects from the second speaker. The following is
the example of preferred responses: A: Can we go to the pool now?
B: Yes. Can you call the cab so we can go now? A: Sure, just wait a second, I will call the cab.
18
From the above conversation, A is asking whether he and B can go to the pool right now. The answer “yes” is the preferred response because it is
considered as the expected answer from B. The conversation continues when B is asking whether A can call the cab so they can go, this first part leads to the second
part that B will answer the question. A‟s answer “sure” is considered as preferred response since B expected A to answer with an acceptance.
b. Dispreferred response
The dispreferred responses usually contain refusals and disagreements. This response happens when the first speaker does not expect the answer from the
second speaker. There are also unusual responses that consider as meaningful or even rude. For example, the absence of response may consider as the hearer is not
paying attention, refusing to cooperate, or not having heard. The following is the example of dispreferred response:
A: Do you know wher e the doctor‟s room is?
B: I don‟t know. From the above example A is asking whether B know where the doctor‟s
room is. B answers “I don‟t know” is a dispreferred answer since A does not expect that answer from B.
C. Theoretical Framework
Theory of Conversation Analysis is applied to see the conversation structure used in comic strip. There are three parts of conversation analysis that
are used to analyze the topic. They are turn-taking, adjacency pairs, and sequences. These three parts of Conversation Analysis may help in identifying the
